InsureandGo secures SEM success

InsureandGo: Keeping travelers safe and sound

When people hear the word “insurance,” they tend to think of big-ticket items such as houses, cars and health, not to mention the largest of them all: life. In today’s go-go world, where people trek here, there and everywhere, travel has become an important part of the insurance conversation.

Travel insurance protects you from the beginning of your journey to the end, covering everything from trip cancellations to chronic medical conditions. Broke a tooth in the Bahamas? No problem. Lost your belongings in Laos? No sweat. A hotel reservation issue in Havana? No bother.

With such a potentially large consumer audience, the marketplace has expectedly become very competitive. “Pretty much every major brand that has a financial arm will sell travel insurance in some way,” says Foster Congrave, digital marketing manager at InsureandGo. “You can buy travel insurance today in the U.K. from hundreds of different companies.”

The market share of the Bing Network keeps going up. Even the amount of impressions has been increasing when compared with our other paid search strategies.

Foster Congrave, digital marketing manager, InsureandGo

It’s all in the details

InsureandGo, one of the UK's leading travel insurance specialists, has been around for over 15 years, helping people worry about their sand castles instead of their credit cards when disaster strikes while they’re abroad. The company’s mission is simple: Make insurance available and affordable to as many people as possible. Doing so requires developing policies that mirror the way we travel. For the occasional traveler, there’s single-trip coverage. For the jet-setter, there’s an annual policy. The company even has backpacker policies. On top of all that, it now offers pet and mobile device insurance.

InsureandGo relies heavily on digital marketing for its success. Congrave collaborates with Juliette Denny, senior account manager at the performance marketing agency Merkle | Periscopix, to help him in the paid search realm. Merkle | Periscopix was the recipient of the 2018 Bing Agency of the Year Europe award.

While InsureandGo tries to sell the benefits of travel insurance to everybody, its demographic leans slightly toward an older crowd, in part because younger people tend to feel somewhat more invincible and adventurous than their elder counterparts. “20-year-olds tend to not purchase travel insurance,” says Congrave. “That switches around with older demographics, where 70-80% do take insurance.

Diversification in paid search can pay off handsomely when done effectively. That’s why Congrave and Denny use multiple paid search platforms. One of the options they’ve been most impressed with is Bing Ads. “The market share of the Bing Network keeps going up,” says Congrave. “Even the amount of impressions has been increasing when compared with our other paid search strategies.”

In most instances, Congrave replicates successful strategies across platforms. With Bing Ads, however, he’s also made a concerted effort to formulate a plan that acknowledges and embraces Bing Ads as an independent entity. "We used to copy successful campaigns from other search engine marketing platforms and paste them onto our Bing Ads campaigns," says Congrave. "Now we realise that we can take the lessons learned from Bing Ads and create an intentional strategy specifically for Bing Ads.”

Making a list, checking it twice

Juliette Denny, senior account manager at Merkle | Periscopix

Typically, customers fill in the details of their upcoming trip on InsureandGo’s website to get an accurate insurance quote. The goal of Congrave’s marketing strategy is to interact with these visitors to drive them to the point of purchase now as opposed to later. For those who drop off or put off a decision until tomorrow, InsureandGo employs Remarketing in Paid Search as a key strategy to raise conversion rates. “We create lists of users who are likely to be in the research stage, so that we can ensure we’re front-of-mind and highly visible on the SERP when they come to the point of purchasing their travel insurance,” says Denny.

The lists are built according to how far people advance in their journey to getting a quote. By tracking what people do within the website, Congrave and Denny can target those who have shown the most interest and those with the potential for the highest return. “It's a conscious decision to try and funnel more of our spend through people who are more likely to convert in an increasingly competitive market,” says Denny.

A successful journey

Congrave has been very impressed so far with the results he’s seen working with Merkle | Periscopix on the Bing Network. InsureandGo has achieved a 43% increase in revenue year over year as well as a 50% increase in revenue from returning visitors. Rising revenue has also lead to a better ROI, which leaves Congrave with more money to reinvest in Bing Ads campaigns. To date, InsureandGo’s Remarketing in Paid Search campaign has led to a 40% increase in spend on returning customers.

Another benefit with Bing Ads is that Congrave can stretch his investment. “The cost per click tends to be lower than on other platforms, which means we can be more efficient with our spend now,” says Congrave. A 21% increase in the click-through rate (CTR) across InsureandGo’s campaigns doesn’t hurt either. “Bing Ads can deliver on or above the target we want at a better cost for us,” says Congrave.

Bing Ads offers a really great value solution for finding success within a competitive industry.

Juliette Denny, senior account manager, Merkle | Periscopix

Nothing but blue skies

InsureandGo increased YOY revenue and ad spend on returning customers

So, what’s next for InsureandGo? Congrave wants to continue down the same road. Denny hopes to look at advancing the use of demographic targeting. Her team at Merkle | Periscopix are also exploring ideas related to location. “We’re testing some interesting strategies with paid search platforms around locations such as airports,” says Denny. This strategy makes sense considering that travel insurance buyers tend to purchase at the last minute, and you can’t get much more last minute than waiting for your flight.

Overall, Denny and Congrave have been thrilled with the results they’ve seen on the Bing Ads platform. “For the ROI model and level of granularity we’re using, it’s been very effective,” says Denny. “I think the main thing to take away here is Bing Ads offers a really great value solution for finding success within a competitive industry.”

See a summary

View or save the infographic to see how InsureandGo achieved a 43% increase in revenue year over year and a 50% boost in revenue from returning visitors using Bing Ads.